Art Cummings: A dozen steps toward reducing area homelessness

Published 10:51 pm, Saturday, March 23, 2013

Editor's note: This is the final installment in a four-column series written by News-Times Editor Emeritus Art Cummings on homelessness in Greater Danbury.

There are no easy answers to solving the serious problem of homelessness in Greater Danbury.

That's because there is no one single cause of homelessness, and there is no such thing as the stereotypical homeless person.

The severity of homeless situations varies dramatically. There are chronically homeless individuals who may suffer from mental illness, alcohol or drug addiction, and/or inability to get or hold a job; there are people who are only temporarily out on the street; and there are many in between those poles.

There are some communities in the area with dozens of homeless people, and some with only an occasional homeless soul.

So there is no one-size-fits-all solution to reducing -- and hopefully sometime ending -- homelessness.

Ultimately, tackling homelessness in Greater Danbury requires a sharper focus, more passionate commitment and greater resources than are now devoted to this disgraceful reality of American -- and local -- society.

Some communities -- most notably Danbury and New Milford, with an estimated 80 and 35 homeless people within their borders, respectively -- are already doing a lot.

Nonetheless, homelessness continues to exist at unacceptable levels, and that cannot continue.

So what is to be done?

There is no one playbook that is cast in stone, and each community -- like each homeless person -- is different.

But there is plenty that can be done to help provide a better life for the homeless individuals around us.

Here are a dozen steps that can be taken.

1) The residents of every town in Greater Danbury need to develop a compassionate, caring attitude toward the homeless.

This starts with the mayor or first selectman and needs to be pervasive in town government, the religious community, charitable organizations and the business community.

2) Each town needs to have a champion -- an individual or group passionately committed to helping the homeless.

This can be an elected official, a member of the clergy, a volunteer. It doesn't matter.

But there needs to be someone who is constantly focused on solving the problem.

Who is the champion in your town?

3) Attention must be paid to the root causes of homelessness, and a sincere effort must be made to find solutions.

It is not satisfactory to just pay lip service to the problem or to try to relocate it.

4) In one fashion or another, communities with homeless populations need to provide services like counseling, job training, meals, housing, transportation and teaching life skills.

5) There needs to be a soup kitchen, or similar alternative, in every town that has residents who are struggling -- homeless or not -- and can't afford to put food on the table.

There has to be a place where folks can go, especially in bad weather. Danbury and New Milford both provide these, but only at night and, in New Milford, only in the winter.

7) Transitional housing, like that offered by the Amos House and the Renewal House in Danbury, is invaluable in providing housing for a temporary period of time while life skills are taught in an effort to get people back on their feet.

8) Supportive housing, which mixes residential opportunities with other services, is considered by many to be the key missing ingredient in resolving the issue of homelessness.

9) Low-rent housing or rent subsidies need to be provided for former homeless residents striking out on their own.

10) Danbury and New Milford, at least, need to provide a drop-in shelter for the homeless.

The emergency shelters are great, but the homeless are back on the street early in the morning and have nowhere to go all day.

A drop-in center should be a warm, dry place where the homeless can go, and it should provide the services of a counselor, as well as a shower, a washing machine and a computer, so clients can seek jobs and access benefit information.

11) Each town needs to aggressively seek out any and all state and federal funding that would help resolve homelessness.

12) In each town, the municipality, the charitable groups and the business community need to work hand-in-hand to find jobs for those who are out of work.

Bottom line, each community in Greater Danbury needs to ask what more can be done -- and then needs to take whatever action is necessary to help the lives of the homeless.

Art Cummings is editor emeritus of The News-Times. He can be contacted at 203-731-3351 and at acummings@newstimes.com.